Sunderland scraped through the third round of the Carling Cup on penalties against League One Northampton Town tonight. A woeful performance from the lads had us on course for a humiliating 2-0 defeat. However two late goals from Anthony Stokes saved our blushes and forced the game to extra time then penalties.

There were numerous changes to the Sunderland side though on paper we still looked strong enough to comfortably dispose of the Cobblers. Fulop started in goal behind a back four of Bardo, Nos, Ferdinand and Collins. In midfield Edwards, Whitehead, Leadbitter and Reid looked to supply forwards Healy and Murphy.

Though most of our players have Premiership experience it was Northampton who started the game on top. They were first to everything and were knocking the ball about comfortably whilst everything Sunderland did went wrong.

After twenty minutes Northampton took the lead with textbook route one goal. A long punt from the keeper was flicked on to Larkin who charged into the box and fired passed Fulop.

The strike was no more than they deserved but Sunderland did end the half stronger. Edwards blasted a shot straight at the keeper and Leadbitter shot from range passed the post.

Sunderland ended the half in the Northampton box when Whitehead struck a volley goal wards but the shot was blocked. Though we’d had a few chances our players exited the pitch at half time to a chorus of deserved boos.

Prompted into action Keano made two changes with Richardson replacing the ineffective Edwards and Chopra replacing Healy. Despite the substitutions we struggled to create any chances and to be fair Northampton looked more likely to score. The fans were not happy as aimless balls were pumped forward and passes in the midfield were going astray. It really was poor and reminiscent of the dark days.

With about fifteen minutes to go Keano was forced into his third change when Stokes replaced the injured Leadbitter. But Northampton looked to have won the tie when they doubled their lead with ten minutes to go. Goal scorer Larkin turned provider and crossed for Guttridge to shoot into the bottom corner.

To make matters worse Sunderland were down to ten men as Nos who had pulled up in the run up to the goal made his way down the tunnel accompanied by the physio. Though the performance overall was poor credit must be given for the lads never say die attitude though even the most positive supporter couldn’t have seen a way back from two goals down. However, with five minutes to go Stokes bundled the ball over the line to get one back before heading Reid’s corner in off the bar in the third minute of injury time.

We played extra time with ten men but both sides were happy with penalties. There was a scare for us from a corner when a header looped onto the roof of the net. Whilst our only real chance was when Murphy beat a couple of defenders in the box but blasted wide when it looked easier to score.

The penalties were taken at the North Stand and a fair number of fans had made their way round to support us and intimidate Northampton. Fulop did his best to gee up the crowd pumping his fists which was canny. Anyway we won 4-3 with only Stokes missing for us crashing our third penalty off the bar. Chopra, Murphy, Reid and Richardson all netted whilst Northampton missed their first penalty and Fulop made a good save on their fifth. The performance must be a million times better on Saturday if we are to expect anything at Villa.

Final Score: Sunderland 2 Northampton 2 ( Sunderland win 4-3 on penalties)

ALS Man of the Match: Anthony Stokes

Aidan Crowe

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